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One year + a day

September 23, 2008

Yesterday my mother emailed me and reminded me that one year ago to the day I was toiling my way through the English Channel. Funny I didn’t even remember it. I did wake up and think hmmm September 22nd, why does this day seem like something important. It was sort of the same feeling that I get on September 11th and remembering something big happened. However, unlike September 11th I could exactly put my finger on what “IT” was. Until the email.

One email and my emotions took a major roller coaster ride. The huge ride of the exhiliration of achieiving a dream, the sadness that it is over, and the calm that comes with knowing that I went after it. I guess in a way I found myself in that inky black water. There were parts of me that I found that I really liked as in the part that found my passion. And there were the weak points too, but I found that I can overcome those with some determination, a little grit, and some good support thrown in. That and I’m so glad that I just tried.

Funny to think that I couldn’t remember the actual day, but every day I wear a small rock from France that I’ve had fashioned into a necklace. My own little rock. I believe that it is the Greeks that have a superstition that you collect a rock from those places that you want to return. Maybe it isn’t the Greeks but that has stuck with me. I have rocks from all over the world, but somehow this small one around my neck seems the most important.

I’m rambling. I know, but I think I’m just not sure what to say. The feelings are so strange. Some days I pinch myself to know its true. Other’s I sit there and think while I’m in a conversation “I bet you don’t know you are talking to one of the few Channel swimmers.” (Forgive me I know that is very egotistical) Most days it is life as usual, but with the added ritual of hooking my rock around my neck as hopefully a reminder to GO, PARTICIPATE, and LIVE.

One Response to “One year + a day”

wow, it’s been a year… i remember the buildup and the day, trying to find your boat on the online map, and checking the blog before i went to bed and then again first thing in the morning. how exciting it was — and how proud i was of you then and now. swimming the channel was a jaw-dropping achievement…but what you learned by making the goal, by following it through, and by earning and living that mantra is inspiring on an entirely different level. thanks for sharing it with all of us.

i’m so glad you made it out to mn a few weeks ago — it was so great to see you.